I’ve been looking for some solid information about knots. I already know that no one out there has ever used a perfection loop to attach their fly the way I do and I’ve finally got some solid feed back from a guy named Gavin who runsfish-bones.com down in the Cayman Islands. This is how our conversation went…I hope someone will find this usefull

ME:

Hi Davin, I was curious …have you ever tried a perfection loop knot vs the no slip loop? its easier to tie…and smaller? same strength?… i dont know. I fish 20lb fluoro and the knot holds easy. I used to use your no slip loop knot with mono, but when i switched to fluoro i couldnt get the knot to hold, it would work itself free. I use the perfection loop for all my fishing now… grass carp, catfish , hybrid bass, bluegill etc. of course with 20lb my hooks fail before my knot does . you can see me tie it at http://missouriflies.com/ – videos- at the bottom of the page.

Davin:

Hi Christopher,

Nice video. You know, I’ve never tried the perfection loop to attach my fly. I’ll give it a shot, though, just to see.

As for the non-slip loop, here are the things I know about it. I’ve used it exclusively for my flouro bite tippets while tarpon fishing–40, 60, and 80 pound–and have never had it slip or work loose. I’ve caught 90-100 pound tarpon on it, no worries. For these heavier lines you only need a 2-3 turn knot, whereas the lighter bonefish leaders (say 10-16 pound) need 5 turns to be damn near 100%. (I’ve personally tested in on my Boga-Grip.) The knot is straight, small, VERY easy to tie (I can retie and still keep my eye on the fish, I can retie while walking down the beach chasing fish, etc), and very, very strong. The key is you MUST leave a short tag because the line will work back into the knot on a heavy fish. This is because it’s almost impossible to fully seat the knot when you first tie it. But, no worries; leave a 1/8″ tag and you’re good. The fact that the knot is straight and not kicked to one side like the perfection loop can be is key for fishing tarpon. A bend or kink anywhere in the leader system can cause the fly to ride funny, and then the tarpon won’t eat it.

Finally, unless I really need the fly to sink or I’m fishing for tarpon or snook, I never use flouro. It’s stiff, brittle, sinks (which is bad for bonefish over turtle grass) and knots can be weird with it. Also, due to the fact that it’s round, it can’t be invisible to the fish. I find the suppleness of mono gives my flies more life and gets more bites (at least for bone) than flouro. However, if I’m fishing somewhere with deeper water and sandy bottom, I will switch to flouro because it will help the fly sink faster and get down to the fish. I can definitely see where it would be an advantage in river with flowing water and bottom-feeding fish.

Anyways, nice site and thanks for touching base. Always good to hear from another hardcore fly-guy. (Love the pic of the opened hook… I’ve seen those a time or two.)

What made this day stand out in my mind is my trip into the heart of Missouri River dankness, where i witnessed what i at first thought must have been waves from the largest catfish i had ever or would ever see in my life. It was unreal, massive waves 8-10 inches tall and a baby duck swimming out from the swampness for its life. As the baby duck nearly reached the other side of the small oxbow three otter heads emerged from the water in hot pursuit of the duck. Then they spotted me and directed their attention in my direction, making strange sounds i can best describe as a cross between a cat hissing and purring at the same time. We had a face off for several seconds, then i reached for my camera and everyone disappeared. Didn’t see what happened to the little duck, but I think he got got. It all took place in this backwoods oxbow i had to whack my way into…making sure i was covered in bugs pray and a thick hoody cus the skeeters were for real! There were a lot of Grass carp, Asian carp and Buffalo back in the oxbow, I landed several hard fighting Grass carp before making the call to head back out to the creek where i went back to fishing for catfish and unsuspecting carp.

I can’t get enough… the little light brow size 8 “Missouri Bugger ?” “brown op?” whatever went off. I think it was a big common carp that bent it to hell…or grassy, or god forbid a catfish…it was golden colored and over 2 ft long whatever it was. Will definitely be tying some more light brown flies in the near future. The color is nearly invisible in the water where i fish. A lot of the minnows I’ve seen are about this color and if you notice a minnow…many time its translucent…you see guts and spine/lateral line/dark back , this fly is a good match for the bait fish I have seen . What to call it though? The box i got that hook from says 3xHeavy. Bone fish hooks are a must for trophy fish.

I should do this more often. Catfish are known to be active in the hours before and after sun up and sun down. I took advantage of an opportunity to hit the water early. If only every day started like this!

I’m on my way too the mulberry trees by 5 am.

I arrive at the first tree and land a nice Channel Cat just as the sun is coming up. A small black fly did the trick. I usually start the strip almost as soon as the fly hits the water and mix things up a bit doing a tap tap tap strip wait tap tap wait strip tap tap. And go slower and deeper as time goes on. sometimes waiting for depth and then stripping fast…just mixing it up. Usually im a tap tap tap, wait. tap tap tap, slow strip, kinda guy. I incorporate multiple jerks in one strip to make it tap tap tap, like a crayfish would swim . just play around with it. If there are fish present they should bite.

The key to fishing muddy water for ambush predators is finding stucture that holds fish, and conditions that fish like to feed in. It seems to be almost common knowledge that the bite gets good on falling water. Falling water means a few things to me. It means the water is getting clearer and it means that everything is being concentrated, and it means current. In a large creek you need a steep rate of decline in river level to give much current but when you have an oxbow with a narrow inlet/outlet channel current from the draining oxbow can be substantial. Consider all the minnows and other food that’s being swept out into the main creek channel. Find an oxbow inlet/outlet channel on falling water and you might have a real hot spot. Be ready for everything from catfish to hybrid bass to carp and good knows what else ready to pounce. Other things to look for are under levee vents that allow water into adjacent farmland. On a river decline these will boil back into the creek. Baitfish and warm nutrient rich water concentrate here and so do predators. Also look for any sort of current anomalies like a smaller creek or man made water flow flowing into slower water. Look for trees with branches in the water, these attract bait fish. Cast to the base of the tree if you can and as close to the branches as possible. Look for mulberry trees, or trees dropping fruit and berries. If a tree is dropping there are sure to be big fish under it. Also look for downed timber, cut banks, and rip rap. All of these may hold fish. Also look for trees right on the edge of a cut bank that have roots exposed to the water, fish like the base of these trees. I recommend a black fly in muddy waters to aid in visibility but Im not sure the fish really need to see anything to find your fly. I once landed a 34-36 inch blue cat while fishing a bead head caddis on an indicator in muddy water down 8-9ft with no current. Thats right, I was bobber fishing a bead head caddis looking around at other things when i notice my float was just under the surface. I really really should try this method more often, i just cant stand to sit and watch my float. I need to be stripping a fly. Its always good to try new things, if only I had multiple lifetimes to fish every possible method to its inevitable end I probably would!

Here’s a nice Channel cat I caught at the base of a tree right on the edge of a cut bank. To make things even better there’s a mulberry tree with an overhanging branch very very close by. Most fish you see from 2011 are caugh on a small black or brown size 8 fly like this.

I believe the bead chain eye gets the fly noticed when it hits the water and when its stripped. When its cast you can hear it whistle, I’m pretty sure it “whistles” when you strip it as well. All in all its a killer fly. You can take this fly and catch catfish and 30lb grass carp and the next day catch bluegill at the pond… its the same for trout.

A little while later #2

I pause for some photos before moving on to the next tree

Got some grass carp under Tree #2 but no catfish so i move on too tree # 3, I didn’t come for the carp today.

#3 has a bunch of grass carp under it and some catfish. This one had a crazy left eye.

No problem with the right eye…I bet that’s why the fly is on that side.

Cat #4…little guy

I tied on a white size 4 to see what that would do…grass carp on! They can be aggressive when they’re up under these mulberry trees.

Back to the black fly and Cat # 5…got some nice photos of this one

Cat # 6…pretty nice

This catfish was about 20 or more inches. I think its a Channel Catfish but I’m not 100% on that.

Cat # 7 a Blue catfish! Me likey

almost had to give him a kiss before i let him go he’s so cute!

It was afternoon and I wanted to stay but I couldn’t justify fishing any longer. I powered up the creek the mile or so and beached at my takeout point. This Black Rat snake wanted to hide under my kayak, I took some photos of him and then i noticed these dragon flies and all sorts of other creatures in the water that i couldn’t focus on…next time maybe i will shoot some underwater shots.